- Contributed by听
- Researcher 234938
- People in story:听
- Olive Jones
- Location of story:听
- Teesside
- Article ID:听
- A1112509
- Contributed on:听
- 17 July 2003
I was born in Middlesborough and I was 7 in 1939. I remember walking home from church with my family on the Sunday morn war was declared. Everybody was speculating on what was going to happen. We had an Anderson air raid shelter in the back garden, complete with five bunks and straw mattresses. I remember the black beetles, most of all.
We had shutters on all the windows, and no street lights so it was pitch black outside.
Until I was 11 I went to Whinney Banks School. The air raid shelters were tunnels underneath the playing fields. We liked it when the siren blew as the teacher had a large bottle of sweets. These were passed around when we were settled in the shelter and we were allowed one each. We had a gas-mask to carry around at all times. It was the bane of my life. It was in a case with a shoulder strap. We used to swing them around and hit each other with them. I was always having to have the perspex window renewed. Mother was never pleased to have to pay for a new one.
My sister, friends and I raised money for the Missions to Seamen. We had concerts in our back garden and charged the other kids a half-penny to come in. We passed sweets around during the interval, pieces of fruit rock with girls' and boys' names running through. I can't remember how we entertained the audiences but we always had a full house.
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